In the past, no transfer device has been known that can transfer articles arranged and conveyed continuously in one or more lines on a conveyor to a receiving conveyor in such a manner that the articles are rearranged on the receiving conveyor in a plurality of lines as desired.
Neither has there been any transfer device which can readily transfer a plurality of articles from a conveyor simultaneously into separate sections of partitioned containers in a certain arrangement.
There is a prior art device, wherein a feed conveyor carries articles in plural lines and transfers them onto boxes or carrying plates. In that device, it is necessary that the desired number of lines of articles are prearranged on the feed conveyor. This device cannot transfer articles so that the articles may be arranged on the receiving conveyor in a desired number of lines irrespective of the number of lines of articles on the feed conveyor.
In another known transfer device, the arrangement of articles on the receiving conveyor in a desired number of lines is possible only when the articles are placed on the feed conveyor in one longitudinal line. The operation of an example of the above device is illustrated in FIG. 1, a cross sectional schematic view of the device, wherein articles 1 are conveyed in one line onto a feed conveyor 2. A plurality of articles 1 forming a line are pushed laterally in the direction of a by a pusher bar 3 moving transversely of the direction of the conveyor 2, so that the articles 1 drop off the conveyor 2 in the direction of a'. The device is not satisfactory in that articles are sometimes injured, and that a precise arrangement of articles is not possible because the articles are likely to roll about when they drop onto the receiving conveyor.
Referring to FIG. 2, which illustrates a second example of the above device, a stop plate 4 is fixedly provided at a position at a side of a feed conveyor, said stop plate being arranged to be pulled quickly in the direction of b. In this instance, articles 1 are transferred to a receiving conveyor in a substantially regular arrangement. It cannot, however, be completely assured that there is no rolling of the articles on the receiving conveyor. Some of the articles may fall diagonally due to a braking action caused by the contact of the articles with the stop plate 4. There have also been accidents in this type of device in which articles are nipped in the gap between the stop plate 4 and the feed conveyor 2. Further, in case articles are sticky like confectionery, the upper surface of the feed conveyor 2 and the bottom surface of the articles stick together due to a substantial friction, which fact has made it difficult to operate the device continuously for a long period of time.
Another device is described in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,563 issued Apr. 15, 1975.